Longmont McDonald's employee retires after more than 20 years

Mabel Miyasaki, 89, corporation's oldest employee nationwide

By Whitney Bryen

Times-Call community reporter

Posted:
08/06/2014 05:57:09 PM MDT

Updated:
10/07/2014 04:06:45 PM MDT

Mabel Miyasaki, 89, shares a laugh with general manager Cliff Peet at a retirement party for Miyasaki Wednesday at the McDonald's at 245 Main Street in Longmont. Miyasaki has worked for McDonald's for more than 20 years and is the oldest McDonald's employee in the United States. (Matthew Jonas / Longmont Times-Call)

Mabel Miyasaki brushes off the table in front of her as she recounts more than 20 years as the lobby lady at the McDonald's on south Main Street in Longmont.

Miyasaki, 89, can't help herself as she swipes her hand across the table until every last crumb is gone.

"I remember when I was applying for the job and my boss, she liked to joke a lot, she said 'you would be taking care of the customers' and then she dumped her water on the ground and said 'and then when someone makes a mess you clean it up,'" Miyasaki said.

Customers and coworkers celebrated Miyasaki's retirement and her last day on the job Wednesday with gifts, flowers and a McDonald's cake.

Miyasaki, a Longmont resident, is the oldest McDonald's employee in the nation, said the store's general manager Cliff Peet.

During the breakfast rush, Miyasaki pours coffee refills, and she makes sure the tables and floors stay clean at lunch.

Before McDonald's, Miyasaki worked in the cafeteria at Niwot High School for 20 years but had to leave after surgeries on both of her knees left her unable to return.

Miyasaki hoped to continue working through her 90th birthday in March, but knee and back pain, and her love for the Colorado Rockies, convinced her to retire sooner.

"I decided I better hang it up before the pain got too bad," Miyasaki said. "And, now I can go to more Rockies games before the end of the season."

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Miyasaki is looking forward to spending her retirement at Rockies games and with her children and grandchildren, but there are a few things she will miss about the job.

"I love the customers," she said. "My daughter said it's because I talk too much and I get to spend the day talking to customers."

Coworkers and customers will be the hardest to leave, Miyasaki said, but she will also miss the food.

"My favorite are the chicken nuggets," Miyasaki said. "And I like a hamburger sometimes too."

The menu hasn't changed much since Miyasaki's first days on the job, she said. Burgers, nuggets and fries are the highlights then and now but today's menu features more healthy options like salads, she said.

What she won't miss are the ketchup stains, which were prevalent on her blue and white striped shirt Wednesday. Miyasaki shows off her silver watch with a purple face and a McDonald's "M" engraved in the center — a gift from the company for her 10th anniversary.

Miyasaki's bubbly personality and work ethic will be missed by employees and customers, Peet said.

Peet has also been at the Longmont store for more than 20 years and said it will be difficult to find someone who is as good at developing relationships with customers as Miyasaki.

"So many people will miss seeing her here," Peet said. "She's a wonderful ambassador for what we do and she'll be sorely missed."

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